THE TELL-TALE ROOMS

VR / 12 MIN / ENGLISH

THE TELL-TALE ROOMS is a 12-minute father/daughter collaboration by Andrew and Eden Kötting, experienced as an immersive installation, that leads us on a journey into artist, Eden’s, fantastical world. Blending immersive animation, archive and live action, it celebrates the wonders of Eden’s rare neurological syndrome by opening up the fusty doors of perception into a world of 360 virtual reality.

Director: Andrew Kötting
Producers: Rebecca Mark-Lawson & Daria Nitsche

For more information on EDEN and ANDREW KÖTTING’S work follow them on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK or check out this INTERVIEW or their WEBSITE.

Tour Dates

Brewery Tap, Folkestone:  
19th-22nd Oct 2023 and 26th-29th Oct 2023

Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury:  
30th Nov-9th Dec and 11th-16th Dec 2023

Advanced Research Centre, Glasgow: 
16th-20th Jan and 22nd-26th Jan 2024

James Hockey Gallery, Waverley: 
7th-9th and 12th-16th Feb 2024

HOME, Manchester: 
21st-25th Feb, 27th Feb-3rd Mar 2024

South Hill Park Gallery, Bracknell Forest:  
7th-20th Mar 2024

Made with the support of the BFI’s Film Fund, XR Stories, SIGN and the Arts Council England, using public funding as part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, an £80m initiative led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. XR Stories is based at the University of York.

Story

The Tell-Tale Rooms is situated inside a VR replica of an old farm-house deep in the French Pyrenees. The real house has been home to Eden and Andrew Kötting on- and-off for over 30 years but once we enter the house, compiled using photogrammetry, Eden takes us on a journey into places that we have not been before.

In this world you walk amongst the artworks, memories and dreams of Eden Kötting, a visually impaired, neuro- divergent artist. Although Eden is profoundly disabled, here she is the mischief-maker and mistress of- ceremonies. She leads us on a journey that celebrates the wonders of the human condition and offers a rare and positive insight into her life.

In addition, our interactions with the Tell-Tale Rooms are guided by floating animated 3D Tell-Tale heads that appear adrift, tempting us into Eden’s back story. Particle effects in conjunction with randomizing code add an element of unpredictability and chance to the proceedings; one minute a room might be huge and another it might be miniscule, one minute there might be snow outside and in the next minute glorious sunshine.

Guided by Eden and the Tell-Tale Heads, we encounter a series of Tell-Tale Rooms: The Room of Memory, The Room Of Nostalgia, The Room of Make-Believe, The Room of Hope, The Room of Forgetting, The Room of Confabulation… In these rooms there are trace elements from Eden growing from a baby, through adolescence, and into adulthood.

Text written by Eden drift within the space, offering translation for her limited speech patterns, advice for the future, or quotes from the past. The voice of her Great-Grandmother Gladys reminisces about their time together making their film Gallivant.

Snippets of antiquated public information broadcasts and mysterious voiceovers help contextualise how far society has come when dealing with disability and diversity. Eden’s story is memorable, playful and hauntological. Hope is in the air and everywhere you look around…

ANDREW KÖTTING: WRITER / DIRECTOR

Andrew Kötting is an award-winning artist, filmmaker and Professor who has made over 100 short films. His artworks, in varied media, include film, video, performance, paintings, sculpture, collage, cd, vinyl, bookwork, text, and installation, often in collaboration with his daughter Eden. He obtained a BA in Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art and then an MA in mixed media at The Slade in London. He has over 40 years’ experience in the art world.

His feature film Gallivant won best film at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1997 and continues to feature in various top 100 best British films of all time lists. Other work has been nominated for prizes including The Jarman Award and The Paul Hamlyn Award. His short film Diseased and Disorderly was released in 2021 and has been screened at BFI London Film Festival, Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival, Montreal International Animation Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Leeds Internatinal Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival, Dumbo Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Bolton International Film Festival, London International Animation Festival, and The Critics Circle.

EDEN KÖTTING: ARTIST

Eden Kötting was born with Joubert Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. In 1996 she appeared in her father’s experimental feature film Gallivant along with her Great Grandmother Gladys and in 2006 her artwork was shown at the Tate Modern, organised through Project Art Works. In 2014 she worked with her father on a multi-media art project; By Our Selves, commissioned by Arts Council England, distributed by Soda Pictures and in 2015 she was commissioned by Channel 4 & Random Acts to make short animated film (All In The Mind), using her drawings and collages as a springboard. In 2019, again with her father and animator Glenn Whiting she made In Far Away Land, which was distributed in 2020 across the UK and Ireland by HOME in Manchester. Eden is part of the Wednesday Mentoring Group at Project Artworks and shares a studio with her father in St Leonards-on-Sea and the French Pyrenees. 2021 saw Project Artworks shortlisted for the Turner Prize and in June 2022 Eden and Andrew had their first commercial gallery show at New Art Projects in London in which they presented elements from both Diseased and Disorderly as well as The Tell-Tale Rooms.

REBECCA MARK-LAWSON: PRODUCER

Rebecca is a producer and founder of BFI Vision Award production company, Tyke Films. Her work in Film, TV, and VR explores storytelling that innovatively occupies the space between documentary and drama. Rebecca’s career spans productions with the likes of Penny Woolcock and Ken Loach, Development Executive for new talent at EM Media and Managing Executive at Lifesize Pictures. Rebecca continues to produce and executive produce multiple award-winning documentary and fiction films for Film4, Channel 4, BFI and BBC Films.
Her internationally acclaimed feature Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché played at over 50 festivals worldwide, was released in Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and won Best Documentary and Raindance Discovery Award at the BIFAs and Grand Prix at FAME Festival. Previous feature IRENE’S GHOST was listed in The Guardian’s “Best Films of 2019” and was nominated for the BIFA Raindance Discovery Award, with Rebecca nominated for Breakthrough Producer.

DARIA NITSCHE: PRODUCER

Daria is a multi-award-winning, international Producer who started her career working on programmes for Germany’s leading broadcaster ZDF, as well as global TV and cinema commercials. She has worked on German, English, Italian, Spanish, American and Nigerian productions and joined BFI Vision Award winning company Tyke Films in 2019, where she produced BIFA winning and BAFTA Scotland nominated films, such as POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ, featuring Oscar nominee Ruth Negga as the voice of Poly Styrene. The film played at top tier festivals such as SXSW, Rotterdam, HotDocs and CPH:DOX, sold out multiple screenings in the US and was chosen as The New York Times Critics Pick. She is also a British Independent Film Awards voter and BAFTA Connect member.